Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World

A major work of interdisciplinary nonfiction that redefines how we understand life, agency, and intelligence

What does it mean to be alive? The slow contortion of a plant toward light, the dive of hawks toward their prey—these are purposeful actions. But where does that purpose come from, and what does it tell us about who we are?

In Alive, natural philosopher Melanie Challenger draws on biology, philosophy, physics, ecology, and the history of science to reveal a radical truth: to be alive i...